


the way the river holds the moon

by ringingglass



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: 99 percent fluff with a little repression for flavor, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Pining, Secret Samol 2019, do these contradict each other? well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22372720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ringingglass/pseuds/ringingglass
Summary: Jace and Addax at leisure, during and after the war.
Relationships: Addax Dawn/Jace Rethal
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9
Collections: Secret Samol 2019





	the way the river holds the moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rib14](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rib14/gifts).



_"Everything you needed to know I told you without speaking. I watched you the way someone who has never known fire watches the grey dawn ignite. I touched you the way a wild animal walks into a thresher. I held your name in my mouth the way the river holds the moon." — Natalie Wee_

Addax hums along to the lilting melody that reverberates through the speakers as he moves around the kitchen, sidestepping a precariously placed stepstool and rearranging pots scattered across the counter like a jigsaw puzzle. He’s not the neatest or most efficient cook, but he enjoys the challenge of a recipe, first following it to the letter, then changing a detail or two with each iteration. How many changes can a recipe take before it becomes a different recipe? he wonders, then laughs at the thought: Jace’s philosophy talk is rubbing off on him.

Jace walks through the door at that moment, chuckling at the image of Addax with his apron coming untied, hair almost certainly a mess from the steam, swinging around the kitchen with unyielding focus. He drops his books on the table with a thunk and wraps his arms around Addax from behind, pecking a fond kiss to his cheek as he leans in to get a whiff of the stew cooking up.

“Smells like your latest endeavor is successful,” Jace murmurs.

Addax had recently resolved to experiment more in the kitchen, a venture that’s been rewarding more often than not, though not without its share of unusually-seasoned or textured dishes. Addax shrugs but smiles, stopping his stirring for a moment to lean into the embrace. The stew can simmer for a few minutes, he decides, and turns in Jace’s arms to face him.

“And should I take your late arrival as proof positive that the thesis is going well?” he teases.

Jace’s eyes falter for a moment. “More that I have a particular talent for time blindness when working.”

Addax hums sympathetically, but Jace perks up a little.

“I think I’m getting somewhere, though!” he says. “The September thesis is dense, but the detail is paying off – there’s a source she doesn’t cite until page 211 that I think will really come in handy…”

Jace rattles off about his work giddily while Addax finishes preparing their dinner, the two of them passing off dishes and maneuvering around each other in perfect sync. There’s a coordination to their movements that betrays how well they know each other, a product of their relationship in the war and since. Then again, Addax thinks, it’s always felt like he knew Jace a little too well; like he’s never not known him.

* * *

Deep in the annals of the Kingdom Come, soldiers and maintenance workers alike file into the cafeteria for the first lunch shift. Addax got away from his work later than he meant to, so his stomach is growling by the time he has his food. He finds Jace in their usual spot, a corner booth tucked between the utensil station and an artificial fern ostensibly placed there to brighten the space up. Addax tries to focus his attention on the synthetic leaves badly in need of dusting while Jace talks. Sometimes his earnest looks feel to Addax like staring into the sun, overwhelming in a way that’s hard to turn his face away from.

Somehow they end up debating the merits of maple syrup on chocolate chip pancakes, a trivial topic, but Addax can see Jace’s singular dimple quirk up as he gestures good-humoredly, and for a moment he forgets what he was going to counter with.

“— basically just an excuse to shovel as much carbs and sugar into your mouth at an earlier time than is typically socially accepted, so why not maximize that? Thank you for coming to my Head Talk.”

Addax pauses before responding. “...Head Talk?”

“Yeah, you know, when the head of the fleet briefs everyone before a mission? Maybe it’s just an OriCon term.”

Addax just shrugs and shakes his head. “Right. Regardless, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.”

“That is empirically untrue,” Jace retorts.

Addax takes the bait, teasing, “Proof?”

“We’ve been meeting for lunches for… roughly 10 weeks now, and I haven’t gotten sick of you,” Jace levels. His face is placid but there’s a hum of intensity just below its surface at all times, and it’s almost too much for Addax.

Fortunately, he’s prevented from baring his soul to Jace by the buzz of his comm and a message from Tea requesting his presence in the control room.

“I’d better head out,” Addax says, hand twitching where it rests inches away from Jace’s on the table.

“Tireless as ever, the Diaspora’s distinguished hero refuses to shirk his duties even to finish his allotted lunch break,” Jace calls out in mock announcer voice, imitating the overblown manner of the war propaganda that takes up so much of the air time on the radio.

Addax smirks.

“How can we possibly defeat the Apostolosians if I spend time on such trivial things as finishing my chips?” he says, tossing the half-empty bag to Jace and turning away with a grin. There’s a certain spring in Addax’s step as he walks the corridors that afternoon that he can’t bring himself to bother suppressing.

* * *

Dinner passes the same as ever: Jace gushing about his research, Addax recalling interesting facts or bits of news he’s picked up, the two of them clearing up and washing the dishes in tandem after. On occasion, Addax will think of how bizarrely normal their life is now. They went from rival war leaders to co-conspirators to divided former heroes to universe-rescuing spies in a span of less than 20 years – a lot of life for anyone to live. Neither of them expected to make it this far. He’s gladder than he could’ve imagined that they have.

On this particular night of retirement, Jace and Addax have plans. Big plans. Plans that involve Jace cutting his work off earlier in the evening than usual, fixing up a truly staggering amount of popcorn for them to share, and settling in on the couch for an hour of intent viewing.

It’s the Summer in Hieron season premiere.

“Do you think they’ll do a really big time skip?” Jace asks Addax from where he’s nestled into his side, eyes bright. “I wonder how much the characters from last season will show up. Will it just be Benjamin and Blue J? I wouldn’t be mad, but I bet they’ll do at least a few callbacks for old fans…”

Jace was practically giddy when the two of them learned that his favorite anime was getting rebooted for a fourth season, a sequel, after 20 years. According to the inescapable ads, Summer would feature Ben and Blue J as grown adventurers, forging a new legacy of their own on the Rhizome. Jace had insisted on avoiding all other promotional material, intending to see it with fresh eyes, but that hasn’t stopped him from formulating theories, evidently. Addax is just beginning to offer his own thoughts when he’s rewarded with a hand clapped over his mouth as the theme song starts to play.

“Sorry,” Jace whispers abashedly when Addax glances over, Jace's own eyes remaining fixed on the screen.

Addax just chuckles, kissing his forehead and wrapping his arm tighter around his husband as they settle in to watch.

* * *

“So is this a different god situation, or are names just weird in this universe?” Addax tries to ask, but is quickly interrupted by Jace bouncing in his seat and pointing at the video as a panther flicks across the screen for the first time.

“Did you see it?” Jace asks, already reaching for the remote to rewind.

Addax laughs to himself but lets Jace go ahead, his excitement contagious.

“I get your enthusiasm now, that’s sick as hell. How did Natalya manage that engineering feat with your mech?”

Jace beams. “She’s brilliant, that’s how. I’m no designer, but she tried to explain it to me once. At each of the joints there’s a spring release…”

Addax listens to Jace’s fumbled explanation, and offers his own insight – he’s no engineering genius either, but he likes to watch Nat work sometimes, picking up bits of information here and there. They pass fifteen minutes like that before realizing at the same time that the screen has switched over to its screensaver, flashing between images on Orth’s camera roll: goofy selfies Sokrates took after stealing his tablet, the group shots the task force had insisted on taking before they left, pictures of random ship machinery that needs fixing, and a few photos from Tea’s birthday party last month.

Jace giggles as it lands on a candid picture of Addax caught midway to taking a huge bite of cake, eyes wide as he notices the camera. He doesn’t say anything, just throws Addax a playful wink over his shoulder and hits play on the episode, settling back into the couch. Addax feels his cheeks heat and resolutely stares straight ahead at the screen, afraid that if he so much as looks at Jace his thoughts will show on his face.

They finish the episode in comfortable mostly-silence, interrupted occasionally by Jace pointing out details he thinks Addax will like (“I read a fan theory about Ordenna as an allegory for Apostolos, but I’m not convinced”), and pausing once to half-heartedly debate the skeleton man debacle. It’s so easy to relax like this with Jace that Addax surprises himself by agreeing to watch another episode before they take their leave of each other for the night. Not until halfway through does he realize the two of them had shifted positions in their earlier mock dispute, inching closer to one another so that Jace’s side is now pressed against his. There’s plenty of room on the couch, but Addax doesn’t budge, barely breathing for fear of making Jace notice and startle away.

He’s so committed to pretending he hasn’t noticed that he doesn’t realize Jace is gone to the world until the credits play and Addax looks over to see him sleeping peacefully, head leaned back and mouth half-open. Addax shifts just slightly, meaning to get up without disrupting Jace, but only results in him turning his head to fit more comfortably against Addax’s shoulder. Addax sighs, feeling any willpower left in him draining out with each warm breath against his neck. He leans his head against the back of the couch, closing his eyes. He might as well enjoy this for a few seconds. _Just_ a few seconds, he resolves.

* * *

This time around, Jace is most definitely awake when the credits roll. Still, Addax can’t help but remember their routine binge-watching on the ship so many years ago as he looks down at Jace’s head where it rests against his chest.

How many times had he imagined reaching across the couch just to hold Jace’s hand while they watched, a simple act of intimacy he’d felt was out of place at the time. Addax doesn’t have to be reminded that he can hold Jace any time he wants, now, but it feels like a marvel all the same. A lot of his life feels that way. That they’re together, still, after it all. That Jace not only tolerates but likes his experimental cooking. That they found each other. That Hieron is back for a fourth season. That they forgave each other and themselves. That they’re alive. That they’re happy.

There’s no shortage of surprising things to be grateful for, both trivial and consequential. Right now, Addax is happy to live in the simple pleasures of this moment: Jace in his arms, leftovers in the fridge, Hieron on TV, and the rest of his life to spend in this kind of unremarkable bliss.

**Author's Note:**

> looking forward to getting assigned to write jaceaddax for riley for a 3rd time for secret samol 2020! same time again next year? :~p
> 
> if you, too, like reunited lovers and bittersweet (mostly sweet) memories, play her game "it's been a long, long time," our game of which was a huge inspiration for this! find it at metagame.itch.io (not an ad, I swear)


End file.
